As of May 2011, 71% of online adults reported watching videos on a video sharing site such as YouTube or Vimeo, according to data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. While there is no difference in online video watching by gender, there are several significant demographic differences in rates of video sharing site usage.
The demographic group with the single highest rate of watching online videos is adults age 18-29, with 92% ever using a video sharing site. This is almost triple the 31% of adults 65 and older who report doing so.
Meanwhile, 81% of Hispanics have used a video-sharing site, 6% more than the 76% of African-Americans and 17% more than the 69% of whites who have done so. Household income discrepancies are less significant, but adults with a household income of $75,000 or more have used video-sharing sites at a rate 14% higher than those with a household income less than $30,000 (81% compared to 71%).
Three-quarters (75%) of both college grads and those with some college have watched online video, 19% more than the 63% of high school grads who have done so. Discrepancies according to urban, suburban or rural dwelling are minimal.
Non-Whites More Likely to Use Video-Sharing Sites
Another notable trend is that non-white adult internet users have higher rates of video-sharing site use than their white counterparts, a consistent Pew finding since 2006. Overall, 69% of white internet users said they had visited video-sharing sites, 23% than 56% in April 2009, and more than double the 31% reported when the question was first asked in December 2006.
At the same time, 79% of online non-whites (African-Americans, Hispanics and others) reported using video-sharing sites. That figure is 18% higher than 67% in April 2009, and 108% higher than 38% in 2006.
Online Video Sharing Popularity Steadily Grows
The 71% of online adults watching online video represents an almost 8% increase from the 66% of online adults who reported being video-sharing site users a year earlier and a 115% increase from 33% five years ago when the Pew Internet Project took its first reading on use of such sites.
8 in 10 Parents Watch Online Video
Some 81% of parents in the survey reported visiting video-sharing sites, about one-third more than the 61% of the non-parents who do so. Parental use increased 12.5% from 72% in May 2010, while non-parental use dipped slightly from the 63% reported in the same survey. Pew says this increase might also be attributable to the fact that parents with minors at home are younger as a group than the non-parents cohort and use of video-sharing sites is linked to younger users.
Rural Online Video Use Grows Most Since June ’09
Rural online video use grew 84% from 37% in June 2009 to 68% in April 2011. Meanwhile, suburban online video use grew 42% (57% to 71%) and urban online video use grew 38% (52% to 72%).
comScore: Online Video Viewership Grows
The number of unique US viewers visiting the top 10 online video properties by viewer increased month-over-month in June 2011, according to comScore Video Metrix data. The total number of unique viewers increased 1%, from 176.3 million to 178.4 million.
